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Jonathan
Williams was only three months into pastoring his conservative evangelical
church plant when his father, also a pastor, came out as transgender. Paul
became Paula and was immediately ousted from her community. Jonathan struggled,
thinking: What is the right thing to do when a family member comes out as
transgender? Torn between supporting Paula and her journey and his church’s
position on transgender issues, Jonathan spiraled into drinking and depression.

“There is no handbook.
There’s no You-Tube video,” he writes in the new dual memoir, She’s My Dad: A
Father’s Transition and a Son’s Redemption. “Behind everyone’s coming-out party
there is a family who is weeping, drinking too much, and googling what exactly
it means to be transgender.” Jonathan Williams and Paula Stone Williams have
shared their story with The New York Times and in two popular TedTalk videos.
Now they share it in their new book, She’s My Dad: A Father’s Transition and a
Son’s Redemption.

At the intersection of
faith and sexuality, their personal story explores the ongoing theological
evolution surrounding transgender rights and advocacy in the church. Jonathan
speaks of his family’s continuing evolution and the meaning of remaining loyal
to one’s father even when she is no longer a man. Jonathan and Paula’s
unflinching and eye-opening account during Paula’s transition demonstrate how
even in the most affirming families, the transition of a loved one can be
followed by feelings of loss, confusion, and anger.

This is the story of the
long road to reconciliation and acceptance of Paula as well as Jonathan’s
church’s journey to becoming one of the first fully LGBTQ-affirming evangelical
churches in America. Paula writes, “Though the call to authenticity can be
difficult, it is holy.” Jonathan and Paula continue to speak on gender equity
and to explore the realities and complexities of gender transition.

She’s My Dad: A Father’s
Transition and a Son’s Redemption is available through Westminster John Knox Press
and other retailers.

Praise for She’s My
Dad:

“Jonathan Williams
manages to honestly capture the pain and heartbreak he felt during his parent’s
transition without discounting the reality of Paula’s identity. As someone who
has dealt with family rejection, I kept waiting for the moment when the
suffering of these two people would be pitted against each other—when we’d be
forced to see one of them as the bad guy. Instead, Jonathan and Paula work
together to show us a reality in which two people in difficult circumstances
can journey through pain and toward a new relationship.”

— Austen Hartke, Author of Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians

“She’s My Dad is the
missing link in the LGBTQ+ narrative….Written with gut-wrenching honesty and a
raw vulnerability that exposes both deep pain and deep compassion, this
gripping memoir of love and loss reveals the heartache and the beauty of
navigating life when a family member comes out. A much-welcomed addition to the
library of LGBTQ+ resources!”

— Amber Cantorna, National Speaker, Leader, and Author of Refocusing My Family and Unashamed: A Coming-Out Guide for LGBTQ Christians

“This is a story often
overlooked, and one we need to hear. Jonathan Williams takes us all the way through
his vulnerable and painful coming-to-terms and out the other side into the
light of a Christianity of radical love and inclusion—the vision Jesus had in
mind all along! For anyone seeking to understand the broader picture of a
family in transition, this is well worth the read.”